JEE results out, ranking formula frustrates students

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the final ranks of students of JEE(mains) on Tuesday evening.

Nearly 12.7 lakh students had appeared for the exam. CBSE conducts the JEE(mains) for admission to different National Institutes of Technology(NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology(IIITs) and other centrally funded institutes.

The result declared after a long and anxious wait, has however left a large number of students frustrated and angry because of the 'skewed' normalization formula adopted for ranking. Those who scored over 95% in boards were however placed at an advantage.

Last year several petitions challenging the normalization formula used by JEE (main) for ranking students were filed in the Supreme Court and High Courts.

"The problem lies not in the complexity of the normalization formula but in the method of evaluation by the boards. The normalisation formula is set on a basic assumption that boards are following some norms for evaluation. There should ideally be a normal distribution of marks. But in India, a large no of children get very high marks. In such a situation no normalization formula can be effective," says an IIT professor.

" The normalization formula is skewed. This is a totally absurd way of giving ranks. The two exams, JEE (mains) and the board exams should not have been coupled. The formula is too complex and biased,' said Sanjeev Singhal.

Agrees another student's parent. " In this method of normalization a student with a high score in JEE(main) and around 90% in board can get a rank much lower than someone who scored less in JEE(main) but had a higher board percentage."

Shubam(name changed) adds: "Those who got less than half marks of what I got in the JEE(mains) have got an overall better rank because of normalisation formula. Is this fair and justified?"

Kshitij Garg who started the online petition last year to reverse the normalization formula told HT :"We started the online petition against normalization formula last year. Since then a lot of students have continued signing it. Currently we have got more than 9000 signatures and we hope that the new HRD minister Smriti Irani will look into it."

The SK Joshi Committee had consulted several academicians to come up with a viable normalisation formula for ranking. Two formulas were debated on and finally the JEE(interface) group decided to take a middle path by using the average of both the formulas.

Last year it was decided that for admission to NITs to use the JEE (Main) performance and the normalized Board performance in the 60:40 ratio. But after the JEE (Main) results were out, the JEE Interface Group came up with the complicated normalization formula which put many students at a disadvantage.